Now one of four members of the prestigious Les Clefs d'Or (Golden Key) organisation living in the resort, Mrs Lawson was in April transferred from the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch to the Queenstown Crowne Plaza, where she is now chief concierge.
She was voted to the position of South Island delegate last weekend by her peers at the annual meeting in Auckland of Les Clefs d'Or.
As delegate, Mrs Lawson has the responsibility of organising sponsorship around the 2013 Les Clefs d'Or International Congress - a meeting of about 400 concierge delegates representing hotels from around the world.
"I will be obviously contacting all of the local operators for support for the congress - it's a great opportunity to sell Queenstown and New Zealand," she said, likening the experience to the family days seen during the Trenz conference earlier this year.
"They are almost like travel agents, really.
"They will be experiencing Queenstown and what it has to offer, and taking it back to their countries around the world . . .and can recommend that it's worth the distance."
With her strong Christchurch connection - and especially to the city's eastern suburbs - Mrs Lawson also hopes to use her role to send a message that the city's position as gateway to the South remains unchanged.
"The rebuilding will take time, but the Canterbury Tourism Board are doing all it can to make sure it is operating," Mrs Lawson said, with places like the Antarctic Centre, Willowbank and Orana Park all open.
She said that with so many people coming from Christchurch to Queenstown and vice-versa, people needed to be reassured that Christchurch was still open and remained "the beautiful gateway to the South".
Also involved with the congress are Millbrook Resort's new Les Clefs d'Or chief concierge Daniel Marsh, chief concierges Nathan Wise, of the Hilton Queenstown, and Sofitel's Bryan Wilkinson.
